Abstract:
Studying social behavior in mouse models empowers the understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms involved, which are affected in neuropsychiatric disorders, allowing the evaluation of therapeutic strategies. Behavioral methods available are time-consuming and reducing the length of behavioral sessions may render more manageable experiments and reduce animal stress. We validated a new reliable and sensitive method to study two features of social behavior (sociability and preference for social novelty) in two strains of male mice, the C57BL/6J inbreed strain and the CD1 (ICR) outbreed strain, using a modified version of the V-shaped maze (Vsoc-maze). The Vsoc-maze for sociability and preference for social novelty improves time performance by shortening the length of the sessions, and reduces variability compared to the classical approach performed in the three-chamber apparatus. Altogether, the Vsoc-maze allows evaluating the specific alterations of social behavior in mice in a time-efficient and reproducible manner.
摘要:
在小鼠模型中研究社会行为有助于理解所涉及的神经生物学机制,受神经精神疾病影响,允许评估治疗策略。可用的行为方法是耗时的,减少行为会话的长度可能会使实验更易于管理并减少动物压力。我们验证了一种新的可靠和敏感的方法来研究两种雄性小鼠的社会行为特征(社交性和对社会新颖性的偏好),C57BL/6J近交品系和CD1(ICR)近交品系,使用修改版本的V形迷宫(Vsoc-迷宫)。社交的Vsoc迷宫和对社交新颖性的偏好通过缩短会话长度来提高时间表现,与在三腔设备中执行的经典方法相比,减少了变异性。总之,Vsoc迷宫允许以时间有效和可重复的方式评估小鼠社交行为的特定改变。